Jamba puts a frog in Napster

All-you-can-eat downloads

Common Topics

Jamba, the Verisign-owned ringtone vendor, best known for its torturous Crazy Frog tune, is starting an all-you-can-eat download music service in Europe, similar to Napster.

The Berlin-based company will start its new service from 1 May in Germany. Other European countries will follow shortly thereafter, a spokesperson for Jamba told The Register.

Initially 250,000 songs will be offered, including titles from all major record companies, but the idea is to have 1 million songs by year's end. Subscribers pay €15 per month for unlimited downloads.

Whether Jamba's Crazy Frog, which now has its own Wikipedia entry, will play any role in the new campaign remains to be seen. Details of the service, which will be available through UMTS and regular internet, will be revealed at a press conference at this week's CeBIT in Hannover.

Earlier this week Jamba CEO Markus Berger-de León downplayed the success of the heavily promoted character. "Contrary to popular belief, it isn't successful in all parts of the world," he told German weekly Wirtschaftswoche.®